CSS

Ajax, a Technique for Better Web Applications

Posted on by Mario

whatisajax

Have you ever used AJAX? Many web developers and app developers who like to make their website run faster and efficient will choose AJAX as their solutions. AJAX is actually a technique that has been applied in many popular social media which aims for creating better, faster, and more interactive web applications with the help of XML, HTML, CSS, and Java Script. It works by retrieving data only in part that you need to change instead of reload the whole page. AJAX is an acronym that stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. So far, AJAX is the most workable Rich Internet Application (RIA) technology. But at the same time, AJAX has browser incompatibility and it is supported by JavaScript, which is difficult to maintain and debug.

Along with Document Object Model and JavaScript for dynamic content display, Ajax uses XHTML for content and CSS for presentation. In conventional web applications transmit information to and from the server done through synchronous requests. AJAX is usually required to fill out a form, hit submit, and get to a new page directed with new information from the server while with AJAX, JavaScript will make a request to the server, interpret the results, and update the current screen once you hit the submit. In this sense, the user will never discover that anything was even transmitted to the server which causes better user experience compare to the conventional method.

Moreover, by using AJAX, a user can continue to use the application while the client program requests information from the server in the background. Besides, AJAX is also a more intuitive and natural user interaction, for example you may not require any clicking a mouse movement is a sufficient event trigger.

AJAX also standardizes to accomplish the following standards:

  • Browser-based presentation using TML and Cascading style sheets (CSS).
  • JavaScript to make everything happen.
  • Behind-the-scenes data fetches using XMLHttpRequest objects in the browser.
  • Data is stored in XML format and fetched from the server.

5 Chrome Extensions that Every Developers Should Have

Posted on by Mario

5 Chrome Extensions that Every Developers Should Have

As a developer, are you working efficiently? Today, there are many extensions in Google Chrome that you can use to optimize your work. These extensions will enable you to do your job faster and efficiently. So, whatever your specialties are, whether you are in mobile development or web development, you will need to know these extensions.

  1. Responsive Web Design Tester

Forget those old days where you are testing your responsive design manually since now you can have a great chrome extension of a responsive web design tester for getting a quick look how your website behaves in different browsers and devices. In fact, you can figure it out easily by only clicking the right mouse button, and then there will be many options of devices for you to choose.

  1. ColorPick Eyedropper

Eyedropper is one of design tools that many designers usually use for everyday work and now you can have eyedropper integrate in your Google toolbar. ColorPick Eyedropper is a simple color picker tool that allows you to select color values from any web page without the need to open Photoshop, you can do it by simply clicking the colorPick icon in your Google toolbar and select your targeted image. Easier and faster!

  1. CSSViewer

CSSViewer is another helpful tool, especially for web designer since it can be used to show important information related with style sheet. If you are used to figure it out by clicking to your right mouse button and choose ‘inspect’ to display the style sheet information, now you can install CSSViewer and get a neat display of style sheet information just by pointing out on every feature on the web.

  1. Wappalyzer

Works similarly with its competitor, Ghostery, the Wappalyzer Chrome extension allows you to identify software that is installed on any particular website. You can disclosure many things, such as technologies and. Content management system, eCommerce platforms, web servers, JavaScript frameworks and installed analytics tools.

  1. Usersnap

No more wasting time finding bug in your web! With this chrome extension you can know if there is any point and click issue reporting tracking bugs through its screenshots and all created screenshots are directly stored in your project dashboard.

3 reasons why HTML and CSS still relevant for designers in 2016

Posted on by Mario

5 reason why HTML and CSS still relevant for designer in 2016

As a web designer, having HTML and CSS knowledge will sufficient enough to provide you with the best weapon in design world. Not only because these tools are truly gaining lots of popularity, but also because these tools will give you all it takes to be a professional designer in 2016. Here are why:

  1. HTML and CSS are Design Tools

As a matter of fact, HTML and CSS is not suitable to be used for programming matters since they aren’t really programming languages, therefore they don’t compile when there’s an error in your HTML or CSS. Moreover, your browser will automatically skip it or it will show what it thinks you meant and they don’t provide any function statements as they are best at styling and structuring content.

Besides, you will notice that HTML5 and CSS3 are great improvements over previous versions, especially for HTML5 specification which provides meaningful structure to web content; eliminating the need for ugly <DIV> tags everywhere.

  1. CSS3 Is Replacing JavaScript as the Language of Animation on the Web

Even though, HTML5 and CSS3 are programmed for design and not for programming, but some of the new stuff is starting to get kind of programming language. In fact, CSS animation is a great place to start which you can use it to level up your skills, although you don’t know a whole new language.

Moreover, CSS has become the first choice for the language of animation on the web since the death of flash and the power of CSS3 animation properties. In addition, animation and motion design are one of the things for designers to be working on right now.

  1. Wireframes with CSS are better than a Photoshop Mockup

If you have to face a condition where design details in the mockups need to be interpreted into code, CSS can be one of the solutions that bridge the communication between designers and developers. This has proven that CSS has a lot of success in explaining rough design to developers in understanding designer’s prototype.